The Daily Record has a quite remarkable story over on its website regarding Glasgow Councillor Jahangir Hanif and the apparent forging of signatures to recruit new members to the SNP. Several new members who had been signed up by Hanif were contacted by the newspaper and it transpired that they were unaware of having been signed up and had no intention of doing so. I don’t tend to read the Record but for this story I would recommend it as it is gripping stuff.
To add plenty of colour to the story, the Record has somehow managed to obtain an email sent from Shona McAlpine to Councillor Hanif challenging him on the matter, stating her frustration in no uncertain terms.
The cracks in the voting procedures to get into Holyrood do seem to start being pulled apart and manipulated, I’m sure such instances are not specific just to the SNP. The best way to get around such a problem is to ensure that anyone who votes for a PPC or a representative on the regional list is there in person to make their vote count. I was a member of the SNP Leith branch for (sadly) only a short time but I secretly marvelled at how only a handful of people would turn up to meetings when there were 50+ members, it may even have been 100+. My memory fails me but there wasn’t much of a correlation between those at the forefront and those who had an equal say on who could stand in what contest.
Much like lingering issues over postal voting at elections, there is no better process than a person on voting day turning up with party card or passport in hand and face in full view when casting their vote. Democracy and a party’s integrity deserves nothing less.
The ‘Kalashnikov’ issue that Councillor Hanif was involved in was a media mountain out of a very small molehill. However, if the above is as bad as it sounds, then tough action will have to be taken.
I am no longer a member of the SNP so it’s not really my place to say, but it’s probably best that the party cut this Councillor adrift.
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7 comments:
Is it fair to ask you why you're no longer a member of the SNP?
Perfectly fair Jim.
The reasons are twofold:
1 - I no longer live in Scotland and i'd find it difficult to be an inactive member from down here. I don't see the point in being an inactive member.
2 - With my blogging, the chief outcome of my party membership seemed to be infrequent bother with journalists who could use it as a club to hit me and even the SNP over the head with. It seemed beneficial to break that link.
A shame, but no big deal. I'm considering joining the Greens down here anyway.
I think herein lies one of the problems of the AMS electoral system, ie. too much power is in the hands of parties when it comes to candidate selection.
If we had the STV voting system for Holyrood, as we do for local councils, then people could still vote for the party they wished, but would have a much greater say in which candidates get elected. Or if there's a party you don't necessarily support but a very good local candidate you do like, you could put them down as a preference.
Obviously there would still have to be some kind of initial selection procedure by the parties, but candidates who, for whatever reason, are not popular with the public will have less chance of being elected. STV would mean our MSPs having to work hard locally, not take the party support in their area for granted and avoid getting themselves involved in controversies.
Jeff,
I am bit loath to post this but...
I myself am not a member of the SNP, live in France, and yet have contributed financially in a small way to the SNP with a view to UK imparitizality and enlarged debate over Scotlands future.
Providing cash or contributing through whatever means eg blogging is not, in my book, INACTIVE.
Is the SNP core aim aligned to your own idea of what is a better path for Scotlands political and economical future?
You seem somewhat embarrased to justify membership while living abroad? Ideals do not have frontiers.
You should have courage of your convictions. Or are you less convinced? Please tell more.
ED,
Obviously I didn't want this post to be about why I am or am not a member of any particular party but I welcome your comments.
I agree with you that providing cash and/or engaging in the debate is not inactive. I'm not entirely sure I said otherwise in my post.
You ask "is the SNP core aim aligned to your own idea of what is a better path for Scotlands political and economical future?" and my answer is no.
There's no getting away from the fact that the SNP's core aim is independence. It's not mine. So there's a third reason why I don't fancy being a member.
Indeed, the reason I forgot to mention it earlier neatly sums up why it applies. Independence doesn't cross my mind as an issue most days and yet it is the driving motivation for most in the SNP.
I have plenty of courage in my convictions but, in case you hadn't noticed in several recent posts, those convictions don't always tally with the SNP's.
As for being "embarrassed" about having to justify membership while 'abroad', I'm afraid you've lost me there. Some people feel more Scottish when abroad and some less so, that may or may not increase or decrease the likelihood of an individual joining the SNP.
For me, my Scottishness is neither up nor down but Scottishness was never a factor in joining a party anyway. I guess the main driver is it's a good way to get involved in the local community and, well, it's hard to do that when you're not living in that community.
There you go, a 4th reason by jings!
Sorry Jeff, I realise you don't want it to be a thread about your party membership - or otherwise.
"Independence doesn't cross my mind as an issue most days and yet it is the driving motivation for most in the SNP."
It's an interesting point.
I support the local party - admittedly that is a lot easier to do when we're talking about having Nicola Sturgeon as our MSP rather than seeing Councillor Hanif dominate headlines.
I suppose I must fall into what you'd call an inactive member, although I'm happy to do a spot of leafleting at election times - Mainly beacuse I feel everyone should get an opportunity to hear what the parties are saying and give fair hearing.
Independence is certainly not my raison d'etre though. If another party got around to putting Scotland's interests first and abolishing Trident... well come to think of it I am a bit of a Greenie anyway...
I am a huge fan of what the original Labour pary achieved for the whole of the UK, but never believed in Tony Blair (and have been vindicated in that!) or what he has done to that party.
Currently the SNP are the only truly social democrat party in Scotland, but whilst I support them now it's not like they're my football team and I couldn't change allegiance. If it came to the point where I felt the Independence issue was a distraction from improving life in Scotland I would no longer support them. That, was really the point of my original question I suppose. I was wondering whether you'd found that after being in power for such a short period, they had deviated from the original reasons for having won your support. It seems not.
All things considered, I'm happy to have supported them and am pretty happy with the way they have performed so far...
No worries Jim, it sounds like we’re on the same page.
Moving away from PFI/PPP and introducing free school meals were my main ‘hooks’ for wanting the SNP to win in 2007. That hasn’t really changed despite SFT hitting some trouble and funding issues delaying the meals policy. In the meantime I have been persuaded by the benefits of Local Income Tax and Minimum Pricing and I think Curriculum for Excellence looks good so, if anything, my regard for the SNP has increased rather than decreased over this term. I don’t think the party’s quest for independence is proving a distraction to improving Scotland though.
I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with being an ‘inactive member’ as I’ve probably too bluntly called it; that may sounds derogatory but it really wasn’t meant to be. I guess I just have an all or nothing type of mentality and I’d rather be fully involved or not at all. That’s neither right nor wrong, just the way it is.
“All things considered, I'm happy to have supported them and am pretty happy with the way they have performed so far...” – That sums it up pretty well for me too.
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